Boat Food

Before setting out on our Summer of 1812 Adventure - 2019 on The Kayak Chaser - I scoured the web, you tube, amazon, and the grocery stores, to figure out what to eat on the boat.

The key factors:

• easy prep (small counter space)
• simple cooking (bbq & 1 burner butane stove)
• minimal cook time (conserve fuel)
• non refrigerated storage (cooler/no fridge)
• long storage (majority of food was loaded on board before we left home)

We were fortunate to find on our journey, both grocery stores and farmer's markets within easy walking distance.  Fresh fruits and veggies were easy to acquire, though often more expensive than at home.

Meat was the most difficult thing to deal with, running back to the grocery store every couple of days, as anything left in the cooler for more than three days was questionable at best.  We eventually found frozen BBQ boxes in one grocery store, which served as the majority of our protein for the rest of the trip.  Each box contained small portions of chicken legs, pork chops, steak, and a generous portion of hot dog weiners.  They lasted longer in the cooler, and were more cost effective than most other options.  Too many weiners, however, of an unknown brand.

Some camp cooking ideas worked out extremely well- top ramen noodles in a bag, while others were huge failures and disappointments- scalloped potatoes in a bag.  In the end, I found just boiling the side dishes in a pot, turning off the burner and covering with a towel, made better food, less mess, and no plastic waste.

Dry storage foods that we'll do again, or new ideas to try are in the pantry sidebar -->

Loading The Kayak Chaser at home made it easy to add items to my weekly grocery list as they went on sale, as well as choosing additional items as I filled up pantry space on the boat.  Once I chose a spot to store rice for example, it was easy to see that I could easily fit 3 more packets in that cupboard, which I would then purchase on my next shopping trip.  Buying a new boat, which will not be coming home, in a different town, will likely be more chaotic.  We don't know how many trips we'll be making to the boat from home just to load supplies and belongings, let alone stocking the pantry.  We'll likely do a lot of food provisioning wherever the boat is, before we leave for the summer.  Access to grocery stores along the way should be great, but carrying everything on foot is still something we'd prefer to avoid.

Food on The Kayak Chaser was also rearranged mid trip, due to the boat being unbalanced.  Too much weight was on the front and port sides, likely due to our construction projects on the bathroom and bed.

Finally, I gave up the garden and prime canning season last year.  This year I will plant before we leave and see what happens.  My canner and a few boxes of jars will join us on the boat, so given the chance to forage, some great deals at farmer's markets, or an excess of meat, the additional storage option will be available.